Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting New (to me) Remington 7400 Jamomatic

So straying away from my favorite 760 pumps a bit I found a 7400 Jamomatic chambered in .270 Winchester at a rather new local FFL by me and couldn't resist, despite how fugly it was.

FFL was an ex cop who apparenly didn't know much about scopes and pricing and when I sold the scope locally, I had literally a pittance into the gun.

The gun was absolutely fugly with a tupperware stock and forend, was matte finish metal with 3 bad rust spots on the barrel and the dratted J Lock.
No date code puts the manufacture date at between 8/9/99 and 10/1 01 according to the Remington Society date code info.
I originally planned to sell the gun(like I needed another gun, LMAO), but when I looked with the bore scope it was about the best barrel I'd ever seen on a Remington. And the rails on top of the receiver didn't have a mark or dig in them, like it was hardly fired.

First thing I did was remove the dratted J Lock, fortunately I had a spare non J Lock safety in the drawer.
Then I sanded the rust spots with 400 grit wet & dry and pretty much got rid of them with Oxpho Blue. Brought the barrel down to bare steel and Dyna Bore coated it, still can't believe how nice the rifling is, more like an expensive custom made barrel.
I had an old school set of Weaver Pivot mounts/rings and put them on.
I had purchased an old school Denver Redfield Lo Pro Widefield 2X7 from bbrown in the classifieds here who said he had a lot of trouble sighting it in on the last rifle it was on. The price was so right that I sent it off to Iron Site Inc. and had them rebuild it and put the classic post/crosshair in it.

But the gun was still fugly with that tupperware furniture, to much matte finish contradicting the high gloss scope, base and rings.

And then comes along 160user to save this gun when he advertises some deluxe walnut furniture from a Remington 742 in the classifieds here. Naturally I buy it. Took a little fitting, forend bolt is shorter than what is needed for the deluxe wood, but I had a bolt from a 760 that was perfect. Stock bolt is 2 inches longer for the tupperware stock and it doesn't require the bearing plate that the walnut stock does so a quick order to Numrich solved that problem.

So while it is a contradiction between matte and gloss finishes it isn't so fugly anymore and I'm happy with it now. It should make a good woods rifle.

Very nice! I like it. I know of an old Model 742 that has killed more deer than Anthrax. It has chatter marks but still cycles like it is supposed to and shoots as accurate as most bolt guns. I used it a ton along with other family members. A buddy of mine has it now and still kills a number of deer every year with it. Never has jammed that I know of but it has been kept clean.

I've known plenty 742s and 7400s other guys had.

Keep Action CLEAN..... no problems.

Jerry

I agree with both of you, on all counts. I have a 7400 in .308 that functions flawlessly and I'm sure this one will also.

I call them "Jamomatics" because of the Remington haters. I mean to listen to them, if you use a 700 the gun will go off when you take it off of safety, before you can even aim at the deer. and those lousy pumps have a forend that rattles so loud it scares the deer off before you can even get a shot at them LMAO. So I guess the "Jamomatic" is your best bet if you load the first shell into the chamber you can get one shot off before it jams. The Remington haters are just too much.

Hope you got a good one. I'd buy another carbine if I new it worked.

I’ve never messed with a 7400 but I’ve saw several 742’s that would jam, it was always the magazine that caused it. IMO they are good guns and better than a lever 30/30 that everyone raves about.

Don't you know that its illegal to use a 7400 without those stupid see thru mounts??

I like what you did with it Redfield and all. I have my dad’s 742, no jams.

Every now and then I see an old 742 saturated with WD40 sitting on the used gun rack.

SPOT ON !!!!!!


Jerry

Well I guess that makes 2 of us

And there I was thinking I had "THE" one.
Dang lyin' internet. . .

I think it's more 'HATERS' than the Inet.

Jerry

I've owned a "Model Four" (fancy 7400) in .270 that shot Federal 130 Blue Box like a good bolt gun! I left it in Texas (as a spare when I visited my folks, I hunted exotics alot then) I ended up selling it cheap to my Aunt down there. It was a very fine rifle! I also had a new Mod 750 Carbine in 35 Whelen that was flawless, but had such beautiful wood I couldn't make myself use it! lol. I like the 7400s alot.

Jim...ditto but never owned one.

I still prefer the M Six and Four Stocks.


Jerry

I had a synthetic stocked 7600 in .270 for quite a few years, and the deer never seemed to mind the forearm not being silent, either 😁 I did mind getting jacked in the cheekbone by that sharp combed stock, though, so I got rid of it eventually. It was a dang good shooter, under MOA with h4350 and a 130 Win PP bullet.

Never had a 742 or 7400, but a friend of mine has an older 742 in .308 that has always worked perfectly both on the range and in the field.

I have mine and my dad's since the early '70s. Neither has ever jammed. We always kept them very clean and ran then completely dry.

I had one in 6mm Rem which of course I sold, would love to have that one back!

Good looking rifle Wink Man.
We had a retired ENCON officer in our hunting camp. He called those Remington semi-autos that all the city slickers and Jersey guys hunted with "Guinea Game Getters".

I’ve never owned one, you made it look nice. I don’t like plastic stocks much either.

My only problem with the 7400 & 7600 is the poor trigger, it's a shotgun trigger. My son had a 7600 chambered in 280 Rem, I sent the rigger to a gunsmith and when it came back it was better than acceptable. other than that they are great guns.

I have a few 7600's and 1 7400. Never a hiccup with any of them. To be fair, the 7400 really doesn't see much hunting use, only infrequent range time, so I wouldn't expect a problem with it in the conditions in which it gets used.

They all are surprisingly good shooters, especially a 35 Whelen carbine 7600. I enjoy taking it to the range and purposely setting up next to guys with heavy long range rigs, and then proceeding to cut tight cloverleaf groups with it while they watch my targets through their spotting scopes and snicker at what has seemingly become an anachronism: A non bolt action rifle over 6.5 caliber meant to be carried around all day and shot from standing positions.

The triggers are generally poor with heavy pulls and a lot of travel. I've tried springs with varying degrees of success, but it seems the Timney kit is about the best. Turns them into pretty decent triggers.

end the jams.

use a 20 gauge bronze bore brush saturated with a good bore cleaner. Attach it to a coated flexible cleaner cable. Attach the other end to a variable speed drill, and spin that chamber clean.

Most Rem 740/742/7400/4 owners only clean from the muzzle, and the chamber never gets clean. Leftover powder residue in the chamber gets hard, and grips the case walls impeding extraction, and viola....a jam.

Keep those chambers clean.

I was given my grandfathers 742 in 30-06 from the family after he passed because I was the only one that hunted with him. You are correct, the barrel was clean as a pin, but when I broke it down, there was so much caked power residue that I was surprised it worked.

I bought one in .243 a long time ago, took it to the range and after three shots decided bolt guns are my thing. I still wish I could have cozied up to that little gun but It just didn't work for me like it looked it would.

BINGO! Keep the chamber clean! We had a wire brush we got from Brownells that was designed to clean the chambers on these rifles.

I’ve had several 742’s no issues if I kept them clean.
The 7400 I think was an improvement - but the jury is out on that.
I had also a 74 which was the cheap wood version - it worked flawlessly.
I’d like to get another 742 or 7400 or even better a 4 I suppose.
The only Remington automatic that was absolutely no good and probably gave the bad reputation is the 740!!! PM me for further information on the 740.

The only problem I have with Remington automatics is the same with all automatics - chasing brass. My range is on my place and there’s grass around my shooting benches, not concrete.

If you shoot only factory ammo the 7400 or the 742 is an excellent rifle for you. If you don’t mind chasing brass ditto.

I am a firm believer the nay sayers, in general, just plain love to bitch!

I grew up in SE Texas and the Mod 740 (later 742) was very popular as we ran deer with dogs ( until they outlawed them in '69 or so) The 740s I saw were in 30-06 and 280 and they both worked fine. The 742s in 308 and 6mm worked fine also, but the 30-06s were almost always jammers. Never saw a 243. I think the shorter bolt travel helped cut down the receiver gouging from the bolt carrier ( did I say that right?) Anyhow, the Ne Plus Ultra in our club was the one in 6mm Remington. It was highly favored. The savvy guys also scoped them (many just used irons) with the Weaver Pivot Mount. I played with a Mod 742/06 when I was around 25, but nothing helped it. Its best grouping was with the then new Federal Red Box with 165 Sierra SBT, right at 4" at 100. I killed deer and hogs, all under 60yds so it was "very accurate", ha. I always killed with one shot ( if you missed there was no second shot chance, too thick woods) it "may or may not" would load another round. I'm way too OCD for that, ha! I felt they handled well though.

I've also heard that most trouble was with the '06 variants. Maybe harder on the action rails that reportedly become worse out/gouged over time. I've heard the 7400's are better than the three number iterations for gouging, but I never really looked into it enough to substantiate it. As I stated, I rarely fire the 7400 I have. I like to carry the carbine 7600's much better.

I've owned exactly 2 pumps, and old Mod 141 (35 Rem) and a new Mod 7600 (308) I could never cotton to the "wiggle/movement" of that fore-end! ha Traded both off. A pump shotgun is "OK" for me, but it never bugged me like a pump rifle! Crazy Loonyism!

I had a 742 with the Deluxe Basket Weave stock in a 30-06 (oh the horrors) and it was a sub moa gun. Never hunted it but never jammed on me either, but I sold it just because....

How does yours shoot?

I had sum jams at first but an old timer at the gun club told me to never use Remington bullets in my 7400 because of there thin dove tail so I switched to Federal problem solved.PS these semi's NEED to be kept clean VERY important.

My old 30-06/742 shot around 5-6" with Remington 150 Corlokt and 3.5-4" with the old Federal Red Box when they started loading the Sierra 165 SBT. I never shot any critter over 60yds, it was that thick, lots of palmetto flats, bay-galls and briers, Pin Oak flats and pine motts. Get on a game trail and ezzzzz along.

Don't know Pullit, I haven't shot it yet. I really bought the gun with intentions of selling the scope that was on it and then selling the gun cause it was so damn ugly.

But when I looked with the bore scope it was the nicest, cleanest barrel I had ever seen, not a tool mark, nothing, more like a custom barrel so I kept it.

I'm sure it will shoot just fine. I have another 7400 in .308 that shoots MOA and even if this one can only do 3 or 4 MOA, it is so thick where I hunt that a long shot is 60 yards.

Ironsighters? Those are required equipment on 760's & 742's in the rust belt states, they make carrying the rifle easy using them and the scope as a carry handle. Dale Story the gunsmith calls them "Colorado Magnums". LOL

My buddy bought three 760s in .35 rem, think from Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
All friggin three had see through rings LMAO.

Had two 760s that would go an inch at 100 w factory ammo.

Had two 742s that would stay inside 2".

Had one 742 carbine that was mint, and it would put cold bore first shot 1' high at 100 every time.
Unfortunately the next couple shots would be 7 or 8" low.
No wonder it was mint

The beat up ones shot good. Hmmmmm

I had the see-thru rings on my 7600 for a while, but they put the scope right where it wanted to ding me across the bridge of the nose, so they got replaced pretty quickly.

It truly is a shame that gun writers back in the day bashed the Weaver pivot mounts to the point that no one would buy them and they were discontinued.

"would never hold zero swinging back and forth like that" were some of their glowing comments/opinions, which I'm sure were developed looking at the mount over at the typewriter and not bothering to actually test it at the range.

I have them on 760's, 7400's and 336's in low rings and they are the cats azz as far as I'm concerned. I still find them on Fleabay.

And still waiting for one of them to come off zero as they are swung open and then snapped back into place LMAO.

They work, I don’t use them now but my family is still using them.

It would be interesting to test such a mount on a really precise rifle.

I had a set of those flip ups that came on an older 336 I had for a bit. I only flipped them up a couple times to check and zero the irons, but the scope never lost zero. That wasn't a particularly accurate rifle though, so I didn't keep it long. I dunno what it is about me and 30-30s in general, but I never seem to hang onto them long.

Same here - except I am OCD about things that rattle. Bit me once after I trade a model 70 for a model 80 1911. I took it apart and unknown spare model 80 parts fell out and I couldn't put it back together. Now I get the model 70 preferences.

ps- if someone knows how to get that stupid little model 80 part back in place......... (emabarrased)


Friend has a 740 in 270 that jammed. I just bent the mag feed lips back a bit, took a honing stone to the sharp underside of them, and cleaned\greased the rails. No more jams. He thought I was a genius. I got tipped off by all the scratches on his spent brass.

I had a Remington 7400 in .270 several years back. Probably around 1979-80 if my memory serves me right. It was pretty accurate for a semi auto and it never failed to fire or function correctly. Honestly, I kinda wish I had that rifle back.

I bought a new Model 742 Deluxe in .308 win. back in 1979. Basket weave checkering just like the stocks you put on. Killed my first deer with it,
just after daybreak, at 225 yards on a bean field, Redfield 4x scope.

I liked the fancy stock,etc on that Deluxe, all except that squared forearm. Square bugs me on any gun, ha. Beautiful rifles though! The 308s in my time (70's) all had a good reputation, with the 6mm Remington/100 clkt) being the "Ne Plus Ultra" deer rifle!